The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport together with KwaNongoma Local Municipality has committed to working together to accelerate service delivery, in particular, the delivery of transport infrastructure.
On Monday 07 August 2023, the MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Sipho Hlomuka, led a team of departmental officials to engage with the municipality to identify areas of possible partnership.
The Mayor, Cllr Mshangane Ndabandaba and the local Speaker, Cllr Babongile Sithole led the municipal delegation. They shared challenges facing the municipality and also pledged to work with the provincial and national governments in promoting service delivery.
The Department of Transport introduced a team of fleet and personnel deployed to assist in improving local roads under the three traditional councils in the area.
Cllr Ndabandaba, said with the budget of R39 million from the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), they cannot be able to cover all the wards in the local municipality.
“We welcome the involvement and partnership with the Provincial Government. This marks a new era for the people of KwaNongoma and it is a start of more good things to come. This leadership of the municipality is obsessed with service delivery not cheap politicking. We invite all Government Departments to fast-track implementation of projects in the area,” said Ndabandaba.
The team deployed by the Department of Transport will be working in the area for a month and will rehabilitate roads such as D1857, D1858 and D1858 located in Mthwadlana area in KwaNongoma.
MEC Hlomuka said, his government is exploring a number of innovations to support struggling municipalities such as Nongoma. He said working with the new leadership, key projects will be prioritised.
“We are going to identify critical areas of interventions. Ours is to assist the municipality to fulfil its constitutional and political mandate to deliver services to the people. The Department of Transport has started and we commit to reviving road infrastructure in Nongoma. The team we are introducing today will do local roads, but we will also be looking at critical capital projects,” said Hlomuka.
Hlomuka said the government at a provincial level has agreed that all departments will improve their service delivery roll-out in Nongoma. This will also culminate in the Premier-led, Operation Sukuma Sakhe, which is a provincial government integrated service delivery programme. Equally, national departments have committed to accelerating services to assist the municipality.
Hlomuka also expressed concerns with the level of political intolerance and political killings in the area, saying more work will be done forcing on fighting crime and fighting political violence.
KZN Transport and KwaNongoma Local Municipality partner in the delivery of transport infrastructure https://t.co/lhXNv5eTpk #ArriveAlive #Transport #Construction @KZNTransport @ConstructionSfy pic.twitter.com/XSyv1wJGLi
– Arrive Alive (@_ArriveAlive) August 9, 2023
